Appendix A: Music Elements and Concepts for K-5
Concepts related to the elements of music and principles of composition become more relevant when taught within a context of interest to the students, rather than in isolation. Students benefit most when they learn these concepts through their daily music experiences and through reflecting on the music of others. Singing, playing, listening, and creating activities provide the basis for conceptual understanding, personal enrichment, and enjoyment .
Music Elements and Concepts for K-2
The following outlines the concepts and understandings the students acquire in music for K-2. These concepts have been derived from foundational objective #2 (except for notation, which is from foundational objective #5). The concepts are intended to provide a basic foundation for musical learning and experiences and should be reinforced and applied throughout the year.
Elements of Music (the basic building blocks of music)
- Rhythm: comprised of the interplay of beat, duration, and tempo
- Beat – the regular repeated pulse in music
- Duration – the length of a sound or silence in music
- Tempo – the pace of the music
- Melody/Pitch: sounds in music may be high or low, move up or down, or stay the same
- Dynamics: sounds in music may differ in level of loud and soft
- Tone colour or timbre (tam-ber): each voice, instrument, or sound/sound object has its own unique and distinct quality and colour
- Texture: the way a sound might feel if you could touch it; different textures are created when sounds are heard alone or when they are heard together with other sounds
Form in Music (arrangement of patterns of sound into a recognizable whole)
- Patterns: music is organized into patterns; patterns in music are created through combining and ordering particular rhythms, pitches, and other aural elements; patterns may range from a simple two-note/beat pattern to very complex and intricate designs such as:
- Same and different – music consists of patterns of same and different
- Ostinato – a repeated rhythmic or melodic pattern (e.g., melodic: so-mi, so-mi; rhythmic: clap-pat-clap-pat patterns used to accompany a song)
Notation (an organizational tool for representing sounds with visual symbols or notational devices, traditional and non-traditional)
- Traditional notation: a widely used means of visually representing and preserving sounds/silences. Students in K - 2 should become familiar with the following notations:
- quarter
- eighth
- half
- whole
- quarter rest
- Non-traditional notation: any invented visual representation of sounds and silences
- Rhythmic and melodic syllables: simple visual and aural tools intended to serve as an introduction to traditional notation (e.g., rhythmic: ta ta titi ta; melodic: do, re, mi)
Teacher Note:
It is essential that students perceive a need to learn a notation system. Individual and group composition activities provide the necessary context for teaching notation. Extensive singing and playing activities should precede the introduction of any notation system. |
Aesthetic Characteristics of Music
The music expression conveys a:
- sense of order and direction
- sense of development that can be simple (i.e., simple repetition and contrast that is obvious and predictable) or complex (i.e., more highly developed intricate patterns that are not easily recognized and may be unpredictable)
- sense of continuity (i.e., sense that everything seems to fit together in an appropriate way) or discontinuity (i.e., a challenge to our thoughts/perceptions through the use of asymmetrical and unpredictable shapes and patterns and/or discordant harmonies).
Experiencing aesthetic qualities
The music expression may evoke:
- a mood, ideas, or images
- qualities of feeling and movement such as tension, surprise, peacefulness, calm, or raucousness.
Aesthetic perception
At this level, aesthetic perception is the natural, intuitive, and spontaneous response to aesthetic characteristics implicit in the musical phenomena or experience (e.g., unprompted movements, facial expressions, stillness and concentration, or exclamations of feelings).
Aesthetic appreciation
Aesthetic appreciation occurs when the listener or performer is able to make a personal connection with the overall effect of the music expression and draw meaning from it (e.g, relating the music to memories or suggesting things of which the music reminds him or her ).
Assessment and Evaluation of Music Elements and Concepts for K-2
Evaluation of music elements/concepts and vocal/instrumental capabilities needs to be approached in two ways: focusing on achievement and on growth. Students need recognition for participation in and growth toward achievement of musical skills and abilities. This recognition must be given in ways that build personal confidence, curiosity, and interest and that support continual participation in vocal and instrumental activities. A focus on final achievement alone may discourage this interest and involvement.
Teacher Note:
The following understandings and capabilities should be considered a necessary minimum requirement for proceeding to more advanced concepts. |
Elements of Music
To what extent is the student able to:
- establish or identify the beat in music
- create and/or identify sounds as being relatively short or long
- identify the tempo of music as relatively fast or slow
- identify sounds in music as moving up or down or staying the same
- identify and distinguish between levels of loud and soft
- identify and describe in his/her own words the distinct qualities and characteristics (tone colour) of sounds
- identify and describe in his/her own words different textures in music?
Teacher Note:
Students in K-2 need opportunities to describe their perceptions of tone colours and textures in language with which they are comfortable before incorporating more formal terminology into their descriptions. |
Form in Music
To what extent is the student able to:
- identify patterns that are the same (repeat)
- identify patterns that are different (contrast)?
Notation
To what extent is the student able to:
- recognize that sounds may be represented by a variety of visual symbols and notation devices
- create and use visual symbols and notational devices as a means of representing sounds
- use terminology encountered in the music they sing, play, and create?
Aesthetic Characteristics of Music
To what extent is the student able to:
- demonstrate appreciation by responding naturally and spontaneously to music expressions and experiences
- respond with movement or visual art to music expressions and experiences
- articulate thoughts and feelings evoked by music expressions and experiences
- make a personal connection with the music expression?
Music Elements and Concepts for Grades 3-5
The following outlines the concepts and understandings the students acquire in music for Grades 3-5. These concepts have been derived from foundational objective #2 (except for notation, which is from foundational objective #5). These concepts are intended to provide a basic foundation for musical learning and experiences and should be reinforced and applied throughout the year.
Teacher Note:
The teacher may have to review some or all aspects of K-2 before proceeding to the concepts and understandings specific to Grades 3-5. |
Elements of Music (the basic building blocks of music)
- The elements (rhythm, melody, harmony, tempo, dynamics, tone colour, texture) are used to serve both expressive and organizational purposes in the creation of music.
- Silence: the absence of sound; can be used for expressive purposes in music
- Rhythm: rhythm is composed of the interplay of beat, tempo, and patterns of duration. Rhythm can exist without pitch/melody.
- Beat – the underlying repeated pulse in music
- Tempo – the pace or speed of the music
- Patterns of duration (rhythm) – the length of a sound or silence in music (the term rhythm is often used to describe patterns of duration)
- Syncopation – occurs when emphasis is shifted to beats not usually stressed: the emphasis occurs off the beat (e.g., in the song “My Paddles Keen and Bright”)
- Metre: the structuring of beats into accented (stressed) and unaccented (unstressed) rhythmic groupings that are often in sets or combinations of twos and threes
- Metre may function as an organizational technique in the composition and notation of music
- Stress in metre can be regular where the relationship between beats is always the same (e.g., march, waltz) or irregular (i.e., the relationship between beats varies)
- Accents other than metre stress can be created by the use of high notes, long notes, or loud notes
- Melody: created when pitch and rhythm are combined into patterns (melody cannot exist without both rhythm and pitch)
- Shape/contour – every melody has a distinctive shape or contour created from its particular arrangement of pitches and rhythms that helps us to distinguish between and recognize melodies
- Scales – prescribed arrangement of ascending and descending pitch patterns
- Interval – the space or distance (up or down) from one note to another
- Tonic or keynote – the first and main note of a scale that establishes a keycentre (e.g., C Major)
- Tonality – a sense of tonal feeling established by scale patterns (pentatonic, major, minor). The term “key” is used to describe this tonal sense (e.g., a song in the key of C Major)
- Key – the relationship of tones to a foundational tone, the tonic, or keynote (e.g., the keynote of C)
- Dynamics: sounds in music may differ in levels of loud and soft
- Tone colour: each voice, instrument, or sound object has its own unique and distinctive sound quality or colour
- Texture: the way a sound might feel if you could touch it; different textures are created when sounds are heard alone or when they are heard together with other sounds
- Harmony – created with the simultaneous sounding of two or more pitches; a fundamental component of texture
- Consonance – a sense of tonal stability and restfulness (often described as pleasant sounding)
- Dissonance – a sense of tonal instability and tension (often described as harsh sounding)
Teacher Note:
The terms consonance and dissonance are relative descriptions of harmonic structure (i.e., what sounds dissonant or consonant to one listener, time period, or culture may not to another listener, era, or culture). |
Form in Music (arrangement of patterns of sound into a distinctive and recognizable whole; the larger shapes and patterns that emerge in music from the combining of smaller structural units)
- Patterns and forms: patterns in music are created through combining and ordering particular rhythms, pitches, and other aural elements (e.g., tempo, tone colour, dynamics); patterns may range from simple to very complex
Teacher Note:
Recognizing and identifying patterns and forms in music is fundamental to acquiring a deeper understanding and appreciation of musical expressions. |
- Same/Repetition: the foundation of musical organization and form; repetition occurs when patterns are repeated; establishes unity in music; may be exact or varied (rounds are examples of exact repetition)
- Different/Contrast: patterns of contrast help to establish variety in music
- Ostinato: a repeated rhythmic or melodic pattern (e.g., the bass line in Pachelbel's “Canon” or rhythmic pattern of pat-clap-pat-snap as you sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”)
- Phrase: a term used to identify patterns within more formal structuring of music; a basic structural unit in musical form — a musical thought
- Phrase structures: combine to create simple song structures (e.g., “Jingle Bells” chorus, four 4-measure phrases designated by letters such as abab; “Frère Jacques”, four 2-measure phrases — abcd)
- Call/response, question/answer, rounds: upper case letters are used to designate or distinguish between sections of music (e.g., ABA , three-part form); lower case letters are used to designate phrases and phrase structures. Phrases that have some slight variation but are otherwise identical can be identified with the addition of numbers (e.g., a 1 , a 2 )
- Verse/chorus: a song form usually structured around two sections; most popular music follows this song form pattern (ABAB)
- One part song form: literal repetition of a complete musical idea or statement (e.g., “Silent Night”, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”)
Song Forms
pattern = phrase
phrases (two or more) = section
One part song form (e.g., “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”)
four phrase: a 1 , a 2 , b, c = one section A
Two part song form: Verse/chorus (e.g., “Jingle Bells”)
verse: phrases a, b, a, c = section one A
chorus: phrases a, b, a, b 1 = section two B |
Notation (an organizational tool for representing sounds using visual symbols or notational devices)
- Traditional notation: a widely used means of visually representing and preserving sounds/silences and sound patterns. Students in Grades 3 - 5 should become familiar with the following:
- Notation:
- quarter note/rest
- eighth note/rest
- half note/rest
- whole note/rest
- dotted half note
- syncopated figure
- Common symbols:
- metre: 2/4, 4/4, 3/4, 6/8
- repeat sign
- 1 st and 2 nd endings
- flat, sharp, and natural signs/definitions
- dynamic signs/definitions (e.g., p = piano soft, f = forte loud)
- Musical terms:
- tempo terminology (lento = slow, moderato = moderate/medium, piano = soft, forte = loud, allegro = fast)
- scale, interval, chord, tonic, key, metre, time signature, phrase, round, verse/chorus, half-step and whole step, ostinato, major, minor, pentatonic
- Non-traditional notation: any invented visual representation of sounds and silences
Teacher Note:
It is essential that students perceive a need to learn a notation system. Individual and group composition activities provide the necessary context for teaching notation. Extensive singing and playing activities should precede the introduction of any notation system. |
Aesthetic Characteristics of Music
The music expression conveys a:
- sense of order
- sense of development that can be simple (i.e., simple repetition and contrast that is obvious and predictable) or complex (i.e., more highly developed intricate patterns that are not easily recognized and may be unpredictable)
- sense of continuity (i.e., sense that everything seems to fit together) or discontinuity (i.e., a challenge to our thoughts/perceptions through the use of unpredictable shapes and patterns and/or discordant harmonies).
Experiencing aesthetic qualities
The music expression may evoke:
- a mood, ideas, or images
- qualities of feeling and movement such as tension, surprise, or calm.
Aesthetic perception
The listener/performer is able to:
- articulate images, thoughts, and feelings evoked by musical expressions and experience
- recognize and describe how the elements and forms of music fit together to reveal larger shapes and patterns.
Aesthetic appreciation
Aesthetic appreciation occurs when the listener or performer is able to:
- respond intuitively to aesthetic characteristics contained in the music expression
- make a personal connection with the overall effect of the music expression; is able to draw meaning from the expression.
Assessment and Evaluation of Music Elements and Concepts for Grades 3-5
Evaluation of music elements/concepts and vocal/instrumental capabilities should be approached in two ways: focusing on achievement and on growth. Students need recognition for participation in and growth toward achievement of musical skills and abilities. This recognition must be given in ways that build personal confidence and that support continual participation in vocal and instrumental activities. A focus on final achievement alone may discourage this interest and involvement.
Teacher Note:
The following understandings and capabilities should be considered a necessary minimum requirement for proceeding to more advanced concepts. |
Elements of Music
To what extent is the student able to:
- identify and feel the beat in music
- distinguish between beat and rhythm in music
- identify the four categories of rhythm (i.e., beat, tempo, patterns of duration (rhythm), metre)
- understand that metre is the systematic grouping of beats
- understand that tempo is the relative fastness or slowness of music
- understand that pitch and rhythm combine to form melody
- recognize the combining and layering of sounds as texture in music
- identify the simultaneous sounding of two or more pitches as harmony
- understand the concept of tonality (key centre) and identify it in songs and music
- sing, play, and aurally identify scale patterns
- identify dynamics as the relative loudness or softness of sounds/music
- identify and describe the unique and distinctive qualities of individual tones/sounds as timbre
- incorporate their understanding of the elements of music into performing and creating activities?
Form in Music
To what extent is the student able to:
- identify the structural unit of a phrase in music
- identify repetition and contrast in music (i.e., phrases that repeat; phrases that contrast)
- recognize that a group of phrases combine to create a section in musical organization
- recognize simple one- and two-part song forms
- understand how the elements of music can be combined or structured to create a sense of order and continuity and contribute to establishing form in music?
Notation
To what extent is the student able to:
- recognize the connection between sound and symbol
- incorporate the use of traditional and non-traditional notation into singing, playing, and creating activities
- define and use common symbols and musical terms encountered in the music they sing, play, and create?
Aesthetic Characteristic of Music
To what extent is the student able to:
- understand that the elements of music can be used for expressive purposes (i.e., to create a sense of peacefulness or raucousness)
- incorporate the expressive qualities of the elements of music into their singing, playing, and creating activities
- recognize silence as an expressive element in music
- articulate thoughts and feelings evoked by music expressions and experiences
- demonstrate an ability to perceive the aesthetic characteristics and qualities contained in a music expression
- make a personal connection with or draw meaning from the music expression?